The present invention generally relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for automatically estimating the cost of a long distance call.
Today it is common to make long distance telephone calls to a wide variety of places and from a variety of different phones. For example, people regularly place long distance telephone calls to many different area codes within the United States and even to many different countries. As business becomes more global, the number of long distance telephone calls is likely to increase.
Furthermore, a person may use a variety of different phones to place long distance telephone calls. For example, many people have a telephone in their home, a telephone at their place of business, and a cellular telephone, all of which may be used to place long distance calls. To complicate things further, there are many different long distance calling plans having a variety of pricing agreements. Often, a person making a long distance telephone call does not know in advance how much the call will cost. To manually determine the cost of the telephone call, before actually making the call, may be time prohibitive.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method for automatically estimating the cost of a long distance call.
The present invention is directed to automatically estimating the cost of a long distance telephone call.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for estimating the cost of a long distance telephone call from a first telephone station having a corresponding calling number to a second telephone station having a corresponding called number. The estimation method is activated by dialing a predefined telephone number. The called number, including a telephone code, is received from the first telephone station and a telephone code is parsed from the called number. A calling plan is determined based upon the calling number and the estimated cost is determined based upon the telephone code and the calling plan. In an alternate embodiment, the estimation method is activated by dialing a predefined prefix, such as, for example, xe2x80x98818xe2x80x99 in addition to the called number.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for estimating the cost of a long distance call is implemented on an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) based wire line telephone system. The AIN telephone system includes a service switching point electrically coupled to the first telephone station, a service control point adapted to communicate with the service switching point, and a service node. The service control point contains a data store and executes a service package application. The service node is electrically coupled to the service switching point and to the service control point. The service node is adapted to receive a called number from the first telephone station and forward the called number to the service package application. The service package application parses the telephone code from the called number, determines a calling plan identification, and determines the estimated cost based on the telephone code and the calling plan identification.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a system for estimating the cost of a long distance call is implemented on a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) based wireless telephone system. The wireless telephone system includes a mobile switching center electrically coupled to the first telephone station, a service control point adapted to communicate with the mobile switching center, and a service node. The service control point contains a data store and executes a service package application. The service node is electrically coupled to the mobile switching center and to the service control point. The service node is adapted to receive a called number from the first telephone station. The service package application parses the telephone code from the called number, determines a calling plan identification, and determines the estimated cost based on the telephone code and the calling plan identification.
The above-listed features, as well as other features, of the present invention will be more fully set forth hereinafter.